Twenty Years After 'This Is the Essence of Baseball', WBC Becomes a True 'Baseball World Cup' [SHINHWA SEOP'S SPORTS INSIDE]

*This content was translated by AI.

At the second World Baseball Classic in 2009, Korea finished second with a total of nine matches. However, more than half of them were against Japan in five games.

In that year's tournament, the "Double Elimination" method, a kind of consolation match, was applied to the first and second rounds. South Korea defeated Taiwan in the first Group A tournament match in the first round and then lost to Japan 2-14 in the winner match (the first round). After beating China in the loser's match, he beat Japan 1-0 in the ranking match again (the second round) to pass the first round as the top of the group.

In the second round, South Korea was in Group 1 with Japan, Cuba and Mexico. He beat Mexico in the first game and met Japan again in the winner's game, winning 4-1 (third game). In addition, they played a ranking match against Japan, which beat Cuba in the loser's match, and lost 2-6 (fourth game) and advanced to the semifinals as second place in the group.

In the semifinals, South Korea defeated Venezuela 10-2 to advance to the final for the first time ever. The opponent was Japan, which beat the U.S. 9-4. In the final, South Korea lost 3-5 after 10 extra innings (5th game).

In the early days of the competition, which was held for the second time, it was the result of the desperate measures and "tricks" that the organizers squeezed for the success and profit of the competition. At that time, there was even a bitter sound that "it would not be this bad even at the local sports competition."

The WBC held the first tournament in 2006 with the aim of becoming the strongest real world baseball game, such as the 'World Cup' of soccer, under the leadership of the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) Secretariat. At that time, it was a product of a sense of crisis that baseball was excluded from the official event of the 2012 London Olympics and MLB's global marketing strategy.

However, the base of baseball in the world was so narrow that the participating countries were limited, and they did not show much interest except for Korea and Japan. In addition, major leaguers and clubs, the world's top league, were often reluctant to play due to injury concerns. Therefore, the organizers strictly limited the number of pitches and the interval between pitches by pitchers, and expanded the qualifications for participation to "blood vessels" as well as nationalities to induce more countries and players to participate.

Despite many difficulties, the WBC introduced the qualifying round for the first time in 2013 and increased the number of participants from the previous 16 to 20 at the fifth tournament in 2023.

In 2026, the 20th anniversary of its launch, WBC is now considered to have established itself as a true 'Baseball World Cup'.

The tournament, which ended with Venezuela's victory on the 18th (Korea Standard Time), virtually featured all the super stars of Major League Baseball, and the world's best national baseball competition was held. The players' attitudes and desire to win in the game were also more serious and desperate than any other tournament in the past, leading to a series of plays and great games that made people feel the essence of baseball.

There has also been progress in the globalization of baseball. Each country's power has tended to level up, with Europe's Italy making an unusual move to the semifinals for the first time, and Japan, which is the mainstream of world baseball along with the United States, being eliminated from the quarterfinals for the first time.

The success of the competition was also praised for its success in the number of spectators and viewership. According to Fox Sports, 7.4 million viewers watched the semifinal match between the U.S. and Dominican Republic on the 15th (local time), the highest number of WBC games ever and the highest number of all sports games over the weekend.

WBC's growth is both a boon and a crisis for Korean baseball. This is because while interest in baseball can be an opportunity to grow, it may become increasingly difficult for the national team to expect good performance in future competitions.

2026 WBC, which was a combination of the achievements of advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time in 17 years and the disappointment of losing consecutive games against Japan and Taiwan and losing in the quarterfinals, ended with a homework that requires a major improvement in the constitution and awakening in order not to fall behind in the flow of change in Korean baseball.

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*This content was translated by AI.